Gag order removed in Bryan Kohberger case, allowing Idaho attorneys, police to speak

Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman on Jul 17, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — The presiding judge in Bryan Kohberger’s criminal case has lifted the gag order that prevents individuals like investigators, law enforcement and attorneys from speaking publicly about the high-profile case.

“I just don’t think that I can justify the continuation of the nondissemination order,” 4th Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler ruled at a brief Thursday hearing. “The rights of the public to information in this case is paramount — given the fact that a plea has been entered in this case.”

Earlier this month, Kohberger, 30, admitted to “willfully, unlawfully, deliberately with premeditation and with malice aforethought” stabbing University of Idaho students — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — to death after breaking into a Moscow home in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and a count of felony burglary, bringing some closure to the case that brought national attention to the college town. Kohberger’s all-day sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Ada County Courthouse.

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